Momentum and Direction
by Lunaryon Lord of Chaos
Summary: After having his secret nearly shattered by Orochimaru, and the five-pronged seal placed upon him, Naruto awakens in a maze, and meets a very strange woman who gives Naruto an equally strange gift. Hints of Soul Eater. Rated for Language & possible Gore.
1. Chapter 1

Momentum and Direction

By: Lunaryon Lord of Chaos

Chapter One: Odd Beginnings

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Soul Eater.

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><p>Naruto growled, struggling against the slimy tongue that roughly hauled him up to the strange feminine ninja. "I see..." She said around her tongue, a smile upon her face like a child who just spied a new toy in a store window, "It seems that whenever you're emotions are aroused, the yokai of the Nine-tailed Fox is able to seep through the seal." Her tongue reaching down towards Naruto's stomach, Sakura watched, confused by the words she had heard.<p>

_ 'The yokai of the Kyuubi?'_ Sakura wondered, staring at her struggling team mate. _'Wait... What happened to Naruto?'_ Staring at her blonde, once blue eyed teammate, she was frightened to see slitted crimson eyes, along with deeper darker whisker marks, making the boy seem almost... Demonic. _'What is going on?'_

Slowly Naruto's shirt was pulled up, revealing a seal array more complex then anything she had ever seen or read about. The hands on the Grass ninja lit with purple flames, as she stared at the seal. _'That's a sealing array, at least it looks like one.'_ Watching in horrified fascination, Sakura's eyes were glued to watching as the Hand slammed into Naruto's stomach.

Suddenly, new markings appeared on the seal on the blonde's stomach, as his crimson eyes lost focus, before sliding back to blue, and finally closing as Naruto succumbed to exhaustion. Staring at the boy her tongue was wrapped around for another moment, the black haired girl seemed to come to a decision, and carelessly chucked the boy behind her, all her attention shifting to Sasuke. Watching the orange clad ninja fly bonelessly through the air, Sakura's eyes widened. _'No! Naruto! There's no way that even he could survive a fall like that! I've got to do something!'_ Glancing around, Sakura's eyes flicked all around her, then settled on her Kunai pouch. Drawing one of the stylized throwing knives, she quickly threw it with all of her might.

Eyes trained on the flying blade, she smiled and silently cheered as the blade caught the back of her teammate's atrocious orange... Thing, and stopped the boy's fall.

Turning towards her crush, tears rolled down her face. "Sasuke! Naruto may not be like you... He may be an idiot, and he's really annoying, but at the very least he's not a coward. Right?"

Naruto groaned softly, fire spreading outward from his stomach, as if... as if someone poured boiling water on his stomach, and the water was rolling down his sides slowly. "Naruto..." A smooth, velvety soft voice whispered into Naruto's ear. "Naruto... It's time to wake up." Naruto's eyes slowly fluttered open, then flicked back closed. Naruto's eyes flew open, and suddenly the boy was on his feet. Glancing all around, Naruto's face a mask of worry.

"Sakura! Sasuke! Oh shit, they need my help!" Glancing around the room, Naruto paused. "Where the Hell am I?" a moment's pause, "And what kind of drugs was the designer of this building on?" Naruto stood on the center of a circular platform in the center of a room that wouldn't look out of place in an Escher Labyrinth.

The room was made of what appeared to be solid pearl, with hundreds, if not thousands of staircases, and doors, in all kinds of different alignments. Standing straight up and down, on their sides, up-side down, in all manner of tilts, and everything in between. "How the Fuck am I supposed to get out of here? My team is gonna need my help against that snake guy.

"Calm down Naruto." The Velvety voice called out softly, almost as if the words were whispered in Naruto's ear. Blinking twice, Naruto whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice. "Oh, please. you won't find me that easily child, You have to some and find me, which shouldn't be too hard. I'm somewhere in this wondrously Labyrinthine mind of yours."

"This... This is the inside of my head?" Naruto asked, sounding surprised. "What the Hell. And after all the shit I've been through I kinda expected the inside of my head to be some kind of freaky sewer..."

'_Foolish little brother, You can't kill me. You don't have nearly enough hate. Your not strong enough, and your life is far too precious to you, so run. Yes, Run and live with the shame of not bein-'_

**"NO!"** Cutting off the memory of his older brother, Sasuke's head rose, the Sharingan staring into the eyes of his serpentine foe. "Not this time. This time I AM STRONG!" The last Uchiha's chakra danced on the edge of perception, almost thick and strong enough to be visible.

'_Hmmm... So it's happened at last. The blood of the Uchiha has finally come to a boil.' _Sakura was brought out of her thoughts by her crush's yell, and a small smile crossed her face when she saw the strength in Sasuke's eyes.

"That's it Sasuke." Sakura whispered.

"Stupid... Teme." Naruto mumbled, "Took 'im long enough." But his unconscious words were noted by no one.

'_I think I might play with him a little, it'll be good to learn the full extent of his powers...'_ Without a word, the Kusa nin banished the giant, injured, summon beneath him. Using the smoke as cover to move to the high ground.

_'I refuse to let it happen again. Never again will someone I care for die because I am weak!'_ Sasuke roared within the recesses of his mind,_ 'I lost my family because I wasn't strong enough! I won't lose my team!'_ Staring at the enemy Genin, Sasuke quickly snatched a Kunai and gripped it in his mouth. _'Thank you, Naruto, Sakura. You two have cleared my head. How would I be able to save my clan from Limbo if I died here today?'_ Concentrating, Sasuke sent out a pulse of chakra, shattering the wood beneath his feet to little more then dust, sending the Last Uchiha flying towards his opponent. Flipping forward, Sasuke delivered a brutal, but easily blocked Axe Kick to the grass nin.

The force of Sasuke using the genin as a spring board, combined with her pushing him off of her gave Sasuke the height to quickly spin in the air, releasing a deluge of Kunai. As he landed on the side of one of the many trees within the forest of death, he watched as the grass genin moved with an almost serpentine grace to avoid the flying pieces of metal._ 'It seems I really was being nothing more then a coward. How could someone that cannot even risk his life to protect those how are precious to him ever even earn the right to fight HIM?'_ Leaping off of the branch, Sasuke quickly flipped over, and struck out twice at the amused black haired woman.

She blocked both strikes with ease, smirking as he flipped over her, and then continued to block with ease, not even turning towards her opponent. Leaping back, Sasuke kicks off the moment he touches ground, as the Kusa nin does the same, meeting at the point between them to start a dance, as beautiful as it is deadly.

Sakura watched the flowing dance of fists and feet, of attack and defense. A dance where both contestants knew that a single missed step would have to face a dire punishment, maybe the end of the battle, and possibly even death. The pinkette watched as a smile lit upon her crush's face, his crimson tomoe'd eyes positively glowing with fury, joy, excitement, and a thousand other emotions.

_ 'I can see her, that means that I can sto-'_ Suddenly lashing out with an unexpected sweep kick, the frightening woman leaps over him, vanishing before he turns around._ 'Where? Shit!'_ Glancing around, the Last Uchiha suddenly turns, following a dark blur. _'Ah! I CAN see her!'_ The woman fires forward, slamming into the wood where Sasuke had been mere milliseconds before with enough force to send cracks dancing on the other side of the ten foot thick branch.

As Sasuke lands, his hands are already dashing through the hand signs for his favorite, and signature technique. Reaching out with a hand, Sasuke breathes fire into the pit that his opponent had created, and after the first breath, decides to abondon the limiter hand, simply allowing the flames to pour forth from core. The flames combine, forming a pillar of golden red flames, charring the crater and surrounding wood.

As the flames begin to die away, Sasuke catches a faint glimpse of the ninja pulling off hand seals of her own, before diving into the wood. shooting towards the Uchiha, her trajectory aligned with the shattered layer of wood where she had travelled, she leapt from the wood, her fingernails trailing along the bottom of the Uchiha's ninja sandals._ 'Intriguing. He's pretty good, for a genin.'_ The woman thought, _'He's able to predict my movements, and react accordingly. If he were a little faster, I might actually have to try.'_

Landing, the Last Uchiha exhaled, before leaping forward, drawing another Kunai, before leaping into the air. Tumbling, he slams into his opponent with another axe kick, before quickly kicking twice more at the seemingly unbreakable guard that the genin had. glaring at his opponent, Sasuke barely noticed the slight itching feel of another Tomoe forming in his right eye, completing that eye.

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><p>Naruto stared blankly at the floor high above him. <em>'How the Hell am I supposed to find someone in this place?'<em> Naruto wondered staring at the two large staircases in front of him. Glancing between the two, Naruto growls, then runs up the left hand staircase, pulling open the door, and rushing down the left hand staircase. Ending up right where he started. _'What? How did... ARGH!'_ Closing his eyes Naruto sat down between the stairs. _'How am I supposed to find whoever that voice belongs to? Navigating this place is impossible.'_ Naruto's eyes opened at the thought. _'Wait. Why am I trying to Navigate? I shouldn't be TRYING to find the source of the voice. I simply need to find the person.'_ Leaping to his feet, Naruto smiled. "Fucking Maze! You can't stop me!" Turning, Naruto glanced around. "Ah." Leaping, Naruto twisted and fell up, landing back at the center of the Labyrinth where he had started. _'Now. I'm heading towards the voice... So that means...'_ Closing his eyes, Naruto simply turned towards one of the many staircases and doors, and moved, acting more on instinct then on any real decision. Twisting and turning, going up stairs, and down hallways. Naruto continued on and on, even though he had crossed over where he had already gone more then once, he could feel that this was the path that he had to follow, and even once he turned a fake direction, and walked an unreal path. Finally though, Naruto found himself standing before a set of large obsidian arrow shaped doors.

Slowly pushing the doors open, Naruto entered into a room unlike anything else he had seen within his mind. The blonde's first thought about the room was the fact that it was huge. The ceiling was easily thirty stories up, high arches with windows of stained glass. Naruto paused, staring at the windows. Each window showed a moment in time of his life, frozen forever in place, almost- almost as if the room was some kind of place of worship. The entire room was made of a dusty red stone, strangely warm to the touch, and it seemed to almost throb with power.

"Took you long enough to get here." The same velvety voice that had awoken Naruto said, "Did you get lost?" Naruto glared over at the source of the voice, before blinking. _'What? Is she the Kyuubi?'_ Naruto wondered, instantly on guard. Standing at the other end of the room, leaning against a podium was a tall woman with short oddly spiked dirty blonde hair, bright golden eyes simmering with mischief, and wearing the oddest outfit that Naruto had ever seen. She was wearing a sleeveless hoodie, the hood down, a symbol not unlike an eye across the front split by the shirt's zipper. She wore tight black pants that ended mid-calf, and she was barefoot. On each arm, she had a tattoo of what looked somewhat like a serpent, and somewhat like a trail of dots, entwined are her arms, starting at her wrists, with what could only be described at the head on each shoulder.

Naruto stared at the woman suspiciously, hand creeping slowly towards his weapons pouch. "Who the Hell are you? And what did you mean by this crazy place being my mind?"

The woman paused, seemingly deep in thought. "Who am I?" She repeated, then sighed. "I... I'm not. Would be the best way to answer that."

Blinking, Naruto couldn't stop the words from escaping his lips. "Wha?"

"I'm not a person... I'm an image that represents your bloodline. At least, I think it's a bloodline." She said, before a smirk appeared on her face. "But you can call me Medusa, from my understanding that's who this image is based off of."

"The... Person you're based off of?" Naruto asked, unsure what Medusa meant. The golden eyed woman nodded, running a hand through her hair. "And what do you mean by a bloodline. I don't have a bloodline."

"It's hard to explain... There's a lot I don't know, things I can only speculate about, and have been speculating about since I first awoke here in this Cathedral nearly thirteen years ago." With a sigh, Medusa ran a hand through her hair again. "I'm based off of someone named Medusa, who from what I understand doesn't exist. Never Existed, at least, not in this world. What I do know for certain is that this is your 'Inner World', a... Construct of your mind that is far beyond me. You'd have to find people who specialize in this kind of stuff to get a solid answer." Blinking, Medusa glanced back at Naruto, "What was your last question again?"

"You said I had a bloodline." Naruto said, and Medusa's eyes lit up, a smile crossing her face.

"Right." After a moment of silence, she glanced at him, "That's not a question." The blonde jinchuriki sighed, "Oh. You want to know what it does, don't you?" Naruto smiled, and nodded. "I don't really know all the much about it, I just know that the Original Medusa used it, and that after this _**Your Chakra is Black**_. But what that means and what you're going to be able to do with it , I have no ideas. Sorry." Suddenly starting, Medusa glanced up. "I think you should go and meet the other being sealed within you... I wonder if I can do that..."

Naruto blinked, recognizing a dismissal when her heard one. He watched as Medusa turned away, striding confidently towards a door hidden in the shadows of a small alcove. Sighing, he turned away. _'Then again... She has a valid point. I should meet the furball...'_ Exiting the cathedral, Naruto wondered aimlessly, allowing his mind to wander as he realized that as long as he had no solid destination, all paths would eventually lead to the platform that he had first awoken on.

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><p>I'm back. After so long, I am back. Sorry for being gone so long, Real Life has been kicking me around. I'm now a college student for any of you that are interested. Just so you know, in case Medusa's explanation was not enough, she will be completely and totally OOC, but then again, that's not Medusa.<p>

I mentioned a False Direction in this chapter, which is a reference to a Naruto x A series that begins with F. First four people to send in the right answer will get a special prize that will be revealed at the beginning of the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Momentum and Direction Chapter 2

By: Lunaryon Lord of Chaos

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot line.

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><p>Sakura watched as the Giant log she sent hurtling at the Oto Genin suddenly exploded, tears pricking the edges of her eyes. "To put it bluntly," The Highly Bandaged Ninja said, "You have no talent. If you wish to fight on the level of people like us, you need to work harder." The continued to approach her, and Sakura screwed up her eyes, not wanting to see her own death.<p>

"Konoha Senpuu!" An oddly familiar voice rang out, "Then the fact of the matter is that the three of you need to work harder as well." Opening her eyes, of all the things she expected to see, the spandexed form of the strange genin that flatted Sasuke before the first round was not at all on the list.

"And just who the hell are you?" Bandages asked, his single eye narrowing in annoyance.

"I am the gracious blue beast of Konohagakure no Sato, Rock Lee!" Lee said, a squirrel sitting on his shoulder eating a nut.

"Le-Lee?" Sakura asked, amazed. "What are you doing here?"

"Whenever you are in danger, I will appear at anytime." Placing the squirrel from his shoulder onto the ground, he smiled at the small animal, "Now... Thank you. If it were not for you, I would never have found her. But you need to go, it is going to be dangerous here." The squirrel looked up at Lee, and Sakura got the distinct feeling that the little animal nodded.

_'Who would have thought that someone like him would be so good with animals... ' _Sakura thought, her face oddly warm. "But... Right now, I'm your enemy too..."

"I've told you before," Suddenly the wind picked up, ruffling his spandex and hair, "That I will protect you with my life."

Sakura blinked, before the memory of her first encounter with Rock Lee resurfaced. "Umm... Thank you, Lee."

Unseen by the pink haired girl, her words brought Lee to anime tears, _'I did it perfectly! Thank you Gai-sensei!'_

Bandages sighed, holding up his scroll. "It seems that we have no choice. Zaku, I'll give Sasuke to you, so you can have your fun before killing him. I'll kill these two." Tossing the scroll back to the other male Oto Ninja, 'Zaku', Bandages lifted an arm, and rolled back his sleeve. Revealing a strange hollowed out arm-piece covered in holes of various sizes

Glancing back, Lee noticed the pinkete's state. _'From the look of things, Sakura's in no shape to fight.'_

_'So the eyebrow'd one is supposed to be particularly good at Taijutsu.'_ Bandages thought, his smile covered, _'Looks like I'm going to get to have some fun.' _Rushing forwards, he leapt over Sakura's Kunai, as Lee punched his hand into the ground, dragging up a think tree root to block the attack.

The Root splintered, and Lee grimaced, "So your attacks have some type of trick to them? I'm not going to dodge them in a normal way. I've seen your attack before." Leaf released the root, allowing it to fall to the earth. "Still it seems that I'm at a disadvantage... Three against One are not odds I like." _'It's a gamble, but I have to defeat them one at a time, and give it everything I have.' _Lee closed his eyes for a moment, before looking down at his arms.

Slowly unwrapping the cloth from around his hands, Lee cleared his mind of all thoughts, _'Gai-sensei... Now, I'm going to to use that move without any hesitation... Because now, I am...' _ Bandages made that 'hmph' smirking sound, and leapt forward, moving at Lee while his guard was down. "Protecting someone precious to me!" Just as Bandages struck at Lee, he vanished. Then appeared again, foot meeting the Oto Nin's chin with enough force to easily throw him off of his feet.

He then pushed off with his hands, flying up behind the Sound ninja, a fire in his eyes. "I hope that's not all you can take, because I'm just getting started!" Lee's bandages seemed to move on their own, wrapping around Bandages, tying his hands behind him. Grabbing the tied Ninja, Lee began to spin rapidly as one of the other sound ninja swore and began to go through handsigns. Zaku slammed his hands into the ground, two furrows of earth burrowing towards the spot where Bandages and Lee were going to land. "Secondary Lotus!" As the two slammed into the ground, twenty leaves danced on the wind around them.

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><p>Sasuke glanced around, he was floating in an ominous whiteness. <em>'Where am I? What is this?'<em> Suddenly, someone was standing before him... His silhouette blurry and unclear. _'Who is that?'_ Sasuke wondered. Suddenly the other looked up at him, _'It's me... From a long time ago... From 'Then'.'_

_Father and Mother shouldn't have died. It didn't have to happen!_ Sasuke's counterpart said. A tear fell from the younger Sasuke's eyes, and suddenly the two were standing in the Uchiha Complex's Mansion, in the very room that he found his parents dead at the hand of his brother. _They're all dead. All because I wasn't strong enough!_ A flash of lightning outside the window, and the empty room suddenly was empty no longer. The bodies of Sasuke's parents, laying in pools of their own blood between the two Uchiha's. _Because I wasn't strong enough to save them! My whole clan has been destroyed... Because I was weak, everyone died. I couldn't save them._ Sasuke watched as his younger double gripped his head, tears flowing freely. _If only I was stronger, if only I had more power... Instead, you just stood by and watched them die._ The younger Sasuke reached up and grabbed his own eye _"If Only you were stronger... If only you had more POWER._ Pulling away from his eye with an audible ripping, from underneath the younger Sasuke's eye was Orochimaru's.

"Okay... Maybe I came at a bad time..." The Two looked off to the side to see a stranger standing there, watching the two. "You were in the middle of corrupting him weren't you... Damn. That means you have dibs."

_Who are you?_ the younger Sasuke/Orochimaru asked. To which the woman simply smiled. shaking one finger.

"Aren't you the rude one? I only tell my name to those who tell me their's first." She said, watching the two. "Annnyways. Go back to what you're doing. I've never tried corrupting someone like this. I might as well get some pointers."

Sasuke blinked. Then blinked again. 'Who the Hell is this woman? She just broke her way into my head, just spoke down to a sannin, and is now trying to get tips from him...' _I am known as Orochimaru of the Sannin. You are?_

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><p>"Sasuke! You're awake!" Sakura said, glancing over at her now standing teammate before gasping. Sasuke was surrounded by a thick dark aura of brackish purple chakra. He stumbled once, before regaining his balance. The others in the clearing; Tenten and Neji, Team 8, The sound genin, all watched in a mix of awe and horror as glowing flame-marks spread across the boy's body.<p>

_'Tha-that's Sasuke-kun?'_ Ino wondered from within Kin's body.

"Sasuke-kun? What... What happened to your body?" Sakura asked, staring at the Last Uchiha. Sasuke's Sharingan'd eyes looked down at the black flames on his skin, a small smirk finding it's way onto his face.

"Don't worry about me Sakura. I'm fine. In fact, I feel power over flowing from within me. I feel... Great." Sasuke stalks forward, his grin growing madder by the second, tear drops of Glowing incandescent chakra dancing from within the murky purple. "I finally understand it now. Why this power was given to me."

"Why?" Sakura asked, breathlessly. She wanted to know the answer, but at the same time was afraid to learn why this power was given to him.

"Orochimaru gave this to me to make me into an Avenger... And while I wish for justice... I am a Sentinel. I will take this power and use it too guard so that such tragedies never happen again."

Dosu stared at the Leaf genin across the clearing, power literally flowing off of him. _'I see. As I thought, the mark on his neck that that sakura girl was talking about is Orochimaru's curse seal. But... He actually got up from it.'_

"Now." Sasuke growled out, glaring at everyone, "Who did this?" Sasuke knelled down next to Sakura, and hugged her briefly. "Thank you for taking care of us Sakura." Stepping forward, he placed himself between Sakura and the others. "Who hurt Sakura?"

"Shit! This is bad." Shikamaru said, as he picked up Ino's body. "Ino, you stay in that body and you'll end up caught in this too! Chouji! Let's get out of here!" Running for the cover of the trees, Shikamaru watched as a confused, then horrified face crossed the possessed Sound Ninja, before she held up a handsign, the slumped over.

"I'm the one who put that pink bitch in her place." Zaku said, laughing, "What cha going to do about it, you half dead Weakling!" Clapping once, the black haired boy threw his hands out at Team 7, a wicked smile on his face.

_'Zaku, you idiot. Can't you feel his chakra? This is Orochimaru-Sama's Curse seal!'_ Dosu thought, glancing over at his teammate. "Wait Zaku! Don you realiz-"

"Zankyokukuuha!" Zaku screamed out, his voice lost in the screaming winds pouring out of his hands. "Ha! See, I've blown them away!"

"And just who did you think you blew away?" Sasuke's voice drawled from over Zaku's shoulder. Glancing over his shoulder, Zaku only had time for his eyes to widen, before a heavy blow sent him sprawling away.

_'Shit. That was fast, especially for carrying two people.'_ Dosu thought, amazed at the Uchiha's speed.

"Housenka no Jutsu!" Flipping through hand signs, Sasuke quickly spit out a dozen small fireballs.

As the small balls of fire flew towards Zaku, the sound genin smirked, "So what if you've got fire! I'll just blow it out!" Aiming at the flames, Zaku released his Zankuuha, snuffing the flames out and revealing the shuriken hidden within. _'What? Shuriken inside of the flames? When did he throw them?'_ The flame heated stars tore into the oto genin, as he hissed in pain.

"Zaku! Below you!" Dosu cried out, realizing that his teammate had not even seen the last Uchiha move. The bandaged Ninja winced as Sasuke's foot slammed into the arrogant ninja's stomach, dropping him to his knees, as Sasuke grabbed onto his arms.

"I get the feeling your pretty proud of these arms of yours." Sasuke whispered into Zaku's ear. "Mind if I... Borrow one?" Sasuke began to pull Zaku's arms, as he pushed on his back at the same time.

_ "Sasuke's chakra has changed so much from the academy...'_ Ino thought, frightened of the flame marked specter in front of her. _'What's happened to him?'_

With a frightening snap, Sasuke released the now unconscious Zaku, one arm twisted at an unnatural angle. Twisting around to stare at the other Sound nin, his eyes seemed to almost glow with madness. "It looks like your the final one. I just hope that you'll be more fun then him." Sasuke said, with a kick to the now downed Sound nin.

Sakura watched as her crush moved stiffly, acting so out of character that she almost didn't recognize him. _'This isn't... This can't be... This isn't the Sasuke I know and love!'_ Pulling herself up to her feet, she shuffled forward, towards her teammate.

Naruto's eyes opened. Groaning softly, he shifted, not noticing as black chakra danced around his fingers like arcs of lightening. As he slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position, he suddenly winced. _'Just my fucking luck. That bastard snake chick put some kind of seal on top of the Kyuubi's seal.' _Slowly pushing himself to a sitting position, he glanced around. _'Is that... Sasuke? Did we stop at a tattoo parlor while I was out?'_

"Stop!" Sakura called out, grabbing onto Sasuke. "This isn't... This isn't like you Sasuke. you're not vicious like this."

Unsteadily pulling himself to his feet, Naruto glanced around. "What the Hell? You guys go and have a Battle Royal without me?" Naruto yells as he sees the destruction cause by Zaku. Glancing over at Sasuke, he watched as the curse mark receded back into his neck. "You two look like shit." Naruto stated bluntly. Sasuke then stumbled, only still standing because Sakura was holding him up.

_'the Curse seal is receding.'_ Dosu thought with relief, _'Thank god. We may actually live another day.'_ Crouching down, Dosu held out his team's scroll. "You are very strong Sasuke, and it seems that at this time we cannot defeat you." Placing the scroll on the ground, Dosu backed away slowly, "A gift for you. Please take it and allow us to leave in peace." Picking Zaku up, and carefully throwing him over his shoulder, Dosu walked over to his female teammate slowly. "Ugh. This may seem convenient to you, but we have questions that need answers... I will promise you this: The next time we meet in this exam, we will neither run nor hide."

Watching the bandaged ninja slowly carry his teammates away, Sakura glanced at Sasuke, her eyes drawn to the curse mark on his neck. "Wait!" Dosu stiffened, glancing back, "Who is Orochimaru? What did he do to Sasuke-kun, and why him?"

"I know naught what he did to the Uchiha, nor why. We were simply told to kill him." Dosu said, "As for who Orochimaru is, you would know better then us. He was originally from Konoha..." Turning away, Dosu continued to stumble away. _'Things don't add up. Orochimaru-sama tells us to kill the Uchiha, but then he comes himself and deals with him? And he doesn't kill Sasuke but gives him one of the curse seals... What is your reasoning?'_

"Go." Naruto's voice rang out, strong and stern, "Before I get any angrier then I already am. I prefer not to fight people who are already beaten, but seeing what happened while I was out I might make an exception. And tell your master I really didn't need what he did to me."

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><p>Naruto stared at the multitudes of clones standing around him, team 7, and Kabuto. "So let me get this straight. Their plan is to hide in these clones and just throw kunai at use... And we can't figure out which ones are real because there are too many? Right?" Naruto asked, glancing at the others. Before dodging another round of Kunai. "You know, these are really cool Kunai."<p>

"There are no end to them!" Sakura said frustrated, and unsure of how to escape the enemy. _'Is this where the Exam ends for us?'_

"ARGH!" Naruto yelled, hands sliding into his most-used hand sign. "I've had it!" The blonde boy focused, channeling chakra. Though something was... Different. unlike how his chakra had felt since waking up, sluggish and unresponsive due to the extra seal placed on him by the freaky snake ninja, Naruto almost felt as if he didn't even need the hand sign. As if his chakra recognized the jutsu and moved of it's own accord to help Naruto.

"Wait! Naruto-kun, don't waste you're chakra, attacking is useless!" Kabuto said, _'This idiot might actually make me have to act... But I can't blow my cov-'_

Suddenly, Kabuto felt what could only be described as a pulse of chakra, and he was surrounded by orange. Dozens of the blonde ninja raced forward, with the original besides him not even seeming to have broken a sweat.

"Kekeke..." The voice of one of the Rain Ninja's slithered out "Then we'll just increase the amount." Dozens more clones formed from the earth, surrounding the army of Naruto's. The battle raged on and on, through the night, into the early morning.

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><p>And so ends the second chapter.<p>

Now, since nobody answered the challenge from last chapter, which was supposed to end now, I'll extend it another week, and make the hint a little easier for you.

The idea of a 'False Direction' is a reference to a NarutoxFinal fantasy crossover


	3. The really short chapter

Momentum and Direction Chapter 3: The really short chapter

Author's Note: This chapter is really short. I know, but that is because I am working on the battle scenes coming up, and did not want to break my new chapter a week schedule I've been holding myself to. On another note, the battles and the Chunin exams are going to be interesting because I have decided to completely abandon the battles that have happened before by simply assigning each fighter a number and throwing a dice around the figure out the fights, not counting Sakura VS Ino, and Neji VS Hinata, but those both have important plot elements that are going to happen during their matches.

Enjoy!

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><p>"<em>cough, cough<em> From here on out," Hayate said, "You will be fighting individually, so you may quit and it will have no effect on your team" The sickly proctor said, coughing into his hand once more.

With a carefree smile, Kabuto raised a hand, stepping out of line. "Umm..." The white haired genin began, "I'm going to quit."

Naruto stared on from his spot in confusion. Kabuto was barely even hurt, he was even healed from the cut he got on his face saving him from those rain-nin they had faced in the forest.

"_cough cough,_ Uhh... You're..." Hayate glanced down at the booklet in his hand, You're Yakushi Kabuto from Konoha, Correct?" Watching the white haired gening nod, The bag-eyed Jounin marked something down, then nodded, "You may leave now. _cough cough, _Does anyone else wish to retire?" As Kabuto walked away, Sasuke suddenly bowled over, grabbing at his neck. Hissing in pain.

"Sasuke!" Sakura said quietly, "You should back out as well." Ignoring Naruto's confused look, she continued "That mark is still hurting you. If you continue..." She broke off, looking down. Sasuke and Naruto stared at her in shock, as she shook, tears pricking the edges of her eyes. "I'm... I'm scared Sasuke. Please quit, you're in no condition to fight right now!"

"Sakura!" Sasuke hissed, "No."

"I can tell that you've been hiding the pain all this time." Sakura continued, "Whatever you say, I'm going to tell Sensei about the mark. Then..." She said, beginning to raise her hand, when Sasuke's shoot out and grabbed hers.

"I'm glad you're worried about me Sakura, but shut up about the stupid mark." Sasuke responded, "I want to know, need to know how strong I have gotten. If I can't become strong enough to make sure what happened to my family never happens again..." He closed his eyes. "Once the prelims are over I'll tell him about the mark myself. But don't take this away from me. I wouldn't ever be able to forgive you."

"You Bastard!" Naruto said, growling, "Stop acting so cool! You have Sakura really worried about you and-"

"Naruto. You're one of the ones I want to fight too." Sasuke pointed out, cutting the blonde off. Naruto paused at that, mouth still open, unable to continue his sentence.

"..." Naruto closed his mouth, before opening it again, "You too. I wanna test myself against you as well." Naruto said, a smile crossing his face, before turning to Sakura. "And besides, we're talking about Sasuke here. If some kinda freaky hickey could stop him I'd be embarrassed to have him as a teammate."

Even though Naruto had been knocked out when it happened, Sakura knew he had a point. she sighed, then looked at him. "You better tell sensei when the prelims are over..." Sakura said, before pausing. "Didn't he put some kind of seal on you Naruto?"

At the blonde's flinch, the pinkette knew she was right. "Yeah... But we don't have time to try and unravel something like that. I'm going to go and talk to the old man when the prelims are over. Stupid thing has completely screwed my chakra control."

"Alright... Now, let's begin to preliminary round. This round will consist of One on One fighting. Basically as if you were in a Real Life confrontation." Hayate said "The only rules are to stop fighting when one person surrenders or I say. And with one person dropping out, we have twenty matches, with the winners of each match going on to the third round." Behind him, one of the wooden wall pieces began to slide upward, revealing a large digital screen. "And the thing that will decide your fate is this. This electric scoreboard will show the match-ups for each battle." After coughing a few more times, Hayate looked at the remaining contestants. "Now this is sudden, but let's announce the two names of the first fight."

After a moment, two names appeared on the board. **Kankuro VS Uchiha Sasuke**

With a smile Sasuke stepped forward, a smirk on his face, as the catsuited sand ninja did the same. "Are you two Kankuro of the Sand, and Uchiha Sasuke of the leaf?" Hayate asked, as the two of them nodded, he stepped back. "Everyone else, please leave the floor and onto the viewing deck above." After the floor was clear, not counting the two contestants and the proctor himself, Hayate coughed, and said "Hajime!"

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><p>Like I said, really short chapter.<p> 


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